Gen 7 Problems

[Spuffington]

Hi all - I've just joined TOC!! Sorry my first post is a bit of a moan!!

Bought my Celica T-Sport in January as a six month old ex-demo car. Love it to bits, quick, beautiful, goes round corners beautifully.............but has a raft of issues with it.

Anybody experienced the same or similar??

- burning smell from clutch when maneouvering at slow speed;

- when cold, choke makes it idle at around 2,000rpm for about 5 mins;

- notchy gearbox when engaging 2nd or 3rd gear;

- scored brake discs front & rear;

- leaky drivers window (and draughty on motorway);

- lacquer missing on a couple of the alloy wheels;

- paint seems really soft as I have a raft of stone-chips on the front bumper and only done 8k

- steering tows to the drivers side regardless of camber and steering has a few vibrations on motorway.

It's in with Toyota today (don't know when it's expected back as I don't need it until Friday, so I've given them plenty of time).

I'm quite disappointed given that I bought a Toyota (after owning a cr*ppy Ford) for its longevity and quality, at the moment I haven't got so much confidence.... :(

[Fidgits]

I know Les used to have a Gen 7 that caused him no-end of problems, to the point he swapped it for a MR2...

[gordypix]

Well I own a beautiful Chilli Red 190 and have had no problems in the 3.5 months I have had it. :D

Some people do complain about niggling things on the Gen 7 Celica like boot rattle and yes mine does rattle but nothing a piece of rubber can't solve or putting the tools somewhere more secure......

You still own an excellant piece of Japanese Engineering and it, like any other car regardless of make, will have problems from time to time.

If it's ex-demo it may have been thrashed and driven hard on accasions which may have caused some of the problems you mention. But if you got it from a Toyota Centre then they should look after it for you as part of their service commitment to you, the customer. Everything will be under warrenty so let them know your feelings and ask for them to help get it sweet as new........

[Spuffington]

Hopefully Toyota will come good. I do love the car and take your point about potential problems due to it being an ex-demo, but hopefully Toyota will get it sorted.

Is Les still a member of the site. What sort of things did he have wrong? Are there any other bits and bobs/problems worth looking out for with the Gen 7's/T-Sport?

I'll keep you posted with what Toyota do.

Cheers for your comments.

Dunk

[gordypix]

Keep an eye on potential Alloy Wheel corrosion - covered under warrenty.

Also there have been reports of problems with the lift bolts but that was on the older Gen 7's and they uprated the bolts several years back so should NOT affect your NEW version.

Boot rattles are common and are usually down to the toolkit knocking around so maybe ad that with a towel or some foam.

[gordypix]

Just noticed you are in Buckhurst Hill. Did you get the car from Hills in Woodford by any chance?

[Spuffington]

Thanks mate.

Yep - car was one of the Manager's cars and demo. Hills seem to be ok so far, was well impressed with the service at negotiation, not too impressed with the valet and car prep before delivery (but I've now been told they've properly valeted the car today) and service dept seem to be ok.

Bit of an update - they've replaced all the brake discs and brake pads (i.e. front & rear), can't find burning smell, and don't think the notchy gearbox is out of the ordinary - they say it's because the gates are narrow and it's a six-speeder.

Hopefully picking up the car soon.

Are you local to Woodford, Gordypix?

[gordypix]

Yes I'm near Harlow and I use their sister garage Hills of Bishops Stortford who are absolutely brilliant at service and helping me out with my queries.

The gearbox can be a bit stiff at times - I find that too but I guess you get used to it - especially after coming over from a Fiesta which will just slot in nice and smoothly most times.

Hills were great when I got my 190 from them in December - sourced it from another part of the country to my exact specification and even sorted a slightly damaged alloy and a few stone chips on it to my 100% satisfaction.

At the moment their excellant parts peeps are painting my eyelids and hopefully fitting them very soon

[Spuffington]

Well, just by way of an update (and thanks for all your help Gordon) - I've just picked up my car after four days in the garage......

- scored brake discs......Hills have replaced all four discs and pads;

- burning smell - seems this may have been coming from the pads as they were very poorly aligned and setup, so the new brake setup should sort all that out;

- leaking windows - both drivers and passenger side have new window/door seals fitted, makes a vast difference to the noise insulation and so far (fingers crossed) no water!;

- seem to have sorted out the engine aswell, but they didn't say what they did.

Contrary to my earlier posts, I'm now well happy with Mr T service. I was greeted by a chap who had assumed personal responsibility for my car and getting it fixed.......sat me down and talked me through it, and when he handed me the keys the car had been valeted and there wasn't that annoying name tag with bit of string hanging from my key!!

The car feels great and rock solid - hope the weather bucks up over the weekend as I'm up for a bit of a spin around the lanes!! B)

[silvasurfa]

happy days! seems like youve got a good garage there mate, nice when it feels like they give a sheet!

[gordypix]

Good news then :D

Toyota are a good bunch round our area. Just tell 'em what u want and they will try to accomodate you.

Watch out for my red 190 on the lanes too.

[Big_Sid]

Anybody experienced the same or similar??

- burning smell from clutch when maneouvering at slow speed;

- when cold, choke makes it idle at around 2,000rpm for about 5 mins;

- notchy gearbox when engaging 2nd or 3rd gear;

- scored brake discs front & rear;

- leaky drivers window (and draughty on motorway);

- lacquer missing on a couple of the alloy wheels;

- paint seems really soft as I have a raft of stone-chips on the front bumper and only done 8k

- steering tows to the drivers side regardless of camber and steering has a few vibrations on motorway.

1. I have had burning clutch smell, only once or twice though when I've give it too much throttle crawling in traffic and riding the clutch.

2. Mine idles at high revs when cold...think its just a feature of the car.

3. Mine is notchy going from 2nd to 3rd too...again, i think this is a feature.

4. Never had any problems with brakes.

5. Never had a window problem.

6. My car is 2001, and on its third set of the 16" five spokes...there is a problem with the lacquer - according to someone I spoke to at Toyota, the !Removed! refuse to acknowledge there is a problem, because they dont get it in Japan (different climate etc).

7. Yes my front bumper is full of craters too.

8. Steering's fine...did have some vibration once, but that was due to imbalanced wheels.

[itsared1]

I have had my celica for about 7 months. This was an ex demo and has done 50k but it is perfect. ok i have had to replace the disc's and i did have a window problem as well but that was a diy job.

When you wind the window down does it catch or do you hear a knocking sound, the rubber of the window runner is very flimsy and can break, if the window has come off the runner you need a new one, i think i got mine for 6 quid!

I get the burning smell from the clutch as well, but only the smae reasons big_sid does!

at cold mine does not idel adove 2000rpm doe you use a lot of fuel or notice a strong smell of petrol when your fire your car up?

Stone chips are a pain in the ****, the nose of the celica is quite low I think that is why you get so many stone chips.

As for the stearing get the tracking looked at by toyota i had mine done whilst it was service, drives like a dream.

[Spuffington]

at cold mine does not idel adove 2000rpm doe you use a lot of fuel or notice a strong smell of petrol when your fire your car up?

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I was told the idle above 2k rpm was just because the 190 has higher compression ratios and more highly tuned........it just needs a bit more ooomph first thing. No extra fuel consumption.........certainly not since converting to Optimax B)

[CraigR]

Things to worry about

ECU being faulty - dripping headlights, and stereo problems

Pre tensioner and drive belt just making an annoying noise

Corrosion of the wheels

If you need more info then have a gander at www.celica-club.co.uk or PM me.

Craig

[mikeb]

Things to worry about

ECU being faulty - dripping headlights, and stereo problems

Pre tensioner and drive belt just making an annoying noise

Corrosion of the wheels

If you need more info then have a gander at www.celica-club.co.uk or PM me.

Craig

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Yep, that sounds about right. I've had numbers 2 and 3 (both fixed under warranty). ECU faults though, thats going to be expensive! :o

[Big_Sid]

Things to worry about

ECU being faulty - dripping headlights, and stereo problems

Pre tensioner and drive belt just making an annoying noise

Corrosion of the wheels

If you need more info then have a gander at www.celica-club.co.uk or PM me.

Craig

←

Yep, that sounds about right. I've had numbers 2 and 3 (both fixed under warranty). ECU faults though, thats going to be expensive! :o

←

Err...should I really worry about the dipping headlights / stereo thing??? I have had that quite often. I notice it at night...i'll be driving along and the stereo cuts off for a split second and at the same time you notice the lights dip a little...Is this an ECU problem?!?!?!?! Mine's only got about a month of warranty left, so if it is, could do with that being sorted out pronto!